Bradley Stoke Town Council is considering ditching a planned move to the Willow Brook Centre in favour of renovating the Jubilee Centre.
The council has already had detailed plans for the revamp, which would see a new floor added to the centre, drawn up.
There have also been several meetings about the new centre involving town councillors.
The first was following a full council meeting on 3 December where the minutes show “informal discussions” were held.
The second was before the Finance and Leisure Committee at the Jubilee Centre on 17 December from which members of the press and public were barred.
Liberal Democrat Councillor Jon Williams also refused to take part in the second meeting; he was present at the first but left before the Jubilee Centre discussions took place.
It is thought the renovation of the Jubilee Centre would work out less expensive than the move to the Willow Brook Centre.
But the plan would go back on what mayor Robert Jones told a Safer and Stronger South Gloucestershire meeting in 2008.
He said then that, subject to contracts, the move to the new town centre would take place in 2009.
The Jubilee Centre plans show four new town council offices on one side of the the new floor with a meeting room and a larger office room on the other side.
A lift would be added in the middle of the current atrium and a new staircase would be added near the current reception area.
The Bradley Stoke Examiner requested a statement from the town council two weeks ago but we have yet to receive one.
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7 responses so far ↓
1 anon // Jan 7, 2009 at 10:06 am
I cannot understand how the council can say that moving to the Willow Brook Centre would be more costly than building an extension on the Jubilee Centre when there is already office space available at the Willow Brook Centre!!!.
It seems to me that this council are just intent on spending our money on themselves, rather than on things to benefit Bradley Stoke residents!!.
2 MKII // Jan 7, 2009 at 12:50 pm
in response to your query ‘anon’, based on my understanding of who owns what, the answer to your question would be……..
because Willow Brook is not council owned, Jubilee is.
It is correct to say that there would appear to be a lot of space currently at Willow Brook, which we (the people of Bradley Stoke) would like to see filled.
But it’s not owned by council.
Council would have to pay rent forever more to use this space at Willow Brook and at the end of it they would have no asset to show for it.
If they extend a property they already own, once the cost of the work is paid back, they have no rent and a bigger, more valuable facility.
Financially, moving BSTC offices to a location it already owns rather than one it has to rent does seem a good idea.
My only reservation/question would be; How valuable would a presence in the Willow Brook prove.
One of the biggest incentives for moving to Willow Brook is that the residents of the town can just pop in while their doing their shopping, which they’re more likely to do than if they have to visit another site.
As well as bringing the town council and the towns people closer together, it would provide a greater opportunity for BSTC to advertise what it can offer in the way of facilities and therefore hopefully lead to greater use of those facilities (and thus, more income).
In terms of sentimental value, having the town council in the Willow Brook, closer and more visible to the people, would be ideal.
But financially, the income this may generate (from increased bookings) would have a relatively minimal impact on the balance sheet.
We want to see our council in the location where the highest concentration of the towns people pass through (Willow Brook), but then at the same time, we all moan about “what our ‘tax payers’ money gets spent on” and therefore on that basis, should be embracing a proposal which has a sounder financial standing.
Assuming my interpretation of the proposals, costs, ownership of the two sites is correct, the decision is between whether the town council should be more visible to its people (Willow Brook) or whether it should be taking the financially beneficial option (Jubilee) (which would still bring the town council offices into a much more visible and prominent position than they currently are).
Is there a best of both worlds option??
Council offices at Jubilee, with a small presence within Willow Brook.
Just one of those sales stands that are located inside the centre, which could have displays of council news, leaflets on council facilities, notices on what council is responsible for, contact numbers.
Maybe one of the council office staff could work from there for a few hours each day to take enquiries, answer questions and just generally show a council face to the people.
I’ve no idea what the cost of this would be but perhaps it is an option BSTC could look into to see if its viable?
(Would South Gloucs share the cost of this with BSTC if the stand also provided information on South Glos issues (sort-it schemes etc)) ????
3 AndrePrevin // Jan 7, 2009 at 12:58 pm
If Bradley Stoke is ever to have a real community feel then things like having the council offices at the alleged “town centre” can surely only help that. I understand the cost concerns and that people may see it as a “waste of taxpayers’ money”, but sometimes the value of something is about more than its financial cost/benefit.
4 MKII // Jan 7, 2009 at 1:45 pm
I do agree with you AP, we should back anything that improves the ‘community’.
But IF council were to place a ‘face’ within Willow Brook as I suggested, who could handle (or at least point in the right direction) the majority of the everyday enquiries BSTC receives, is the value of having the whole BSTC office located in Willow Brook as great as it would first appear.
Is it of any difference to the people of Bradley Stoke whether the person adding up the accounts is doing it in an office in Willow Brook or anywhere else?
The ‘value’ of BSTC being at Willow Brook is in the visibility to the towns people. If you provide that as I suggest, is there any value in paying a rent just to have the ‘engine room’ staff that the public would never see anyway, located there?
I do like the idea of BSTC being at Willow Brook and completely see why people would think this is the right thing to do, but the thought of having more spare funds to spend on the town has appealled to me!
I’ve no idea on the actual amounts involved here but I’d assume that annual rental of appropriately sized office space in Willow Brook would be quite a cost, an amount that (once the costs of a Jubilee extension have been repaid), could be put back into the towns groups and facilities.
If we had a significant sum of money available every year which could be used to promote and back all sorts of things in the town, might this end up having a greater value to the community than the value of us knowing the BSTC office staff are nearby each time we visit Tesco?
5 AndrePrevin // Jan 7, 2009 at 3:15 pm
I agree with you, it seems like an excellent idea. Hope it can get back to the council.
6 Cllr Jon Williams // Jan 12, 2009 at 10:06 pm
Just a point of explanation really. I’ve been committed to BSTC having a presence at our town centre for well over 10 years and find it incredible that after negotiating a very good deal with the centre owners the town council has now decided to pull out of the deal. My reason for no attending the last meeting to discuss this subject was because like other recent decisions made by this council, the decision had already been made and I wasn’t going to be part of the charade. BSTC should be at the town centre; FULL STOP.
7 Matt Morris // Jan 13, 2009 at 10:41 pm
I agree with you Jon – seems like another spectacular own goal by our council.
I feel that the right place for the town council is the town centre – seems barmy to me to have it somewhere else.
AP – I take you’re well made points and they have merit – but as others have said, sometimes it’s not just about money is it? It’s about the council being at the heart of the community – not hidden away elsewhere where’d you not expect it to be.
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